Menu

massage therapist

Find Energy Healing Diplomas in the United States and Canada. Students seeking a different kind of education might be interested in achieving one of several energy healing diplomas.

Today, prospective candidates who are drawn to natural healing will discover that they can earn energy healing diplomas in energy healing for animals. In this particular course of study, students will learn the basics of energy healing, animal communications, direct and distance healing, understanding animal energy systems, energy therapy aids, and associated studies. Other training programs that result in energy healing diplomas include the energy healer course. In this program, students will gain knowledge and skills in intuitive healing, advanced energy healing, color and sound healing, crystal healing, herbal essence healing, and relative business skills. Some alternative health schools provide energy healing diplomas to students who have completed a two-year course of study. In addition to energy healing studies, these programs are subdivided into small class groups where students are also taught about crystals, color and sound healing, flower remedies, and spiritual healing. A number of energy healing diplomas can also be earned through holistic workshops and seminars.

WHAT YOU DO: I run CLINIC Alternative Medicines, which is a multi-disciplinary healing center in Northampton. Right now we have 14 practitioners — acupuncturists, massage therapists, Ayurvedic practitioners, a nutritional therapist, a naturopath, a Reiki practitioner and several yoga teachers. My role is to make sure things remain functional, and, I hope, even resplendent at CLINIC. We handle reception, scheduling, linens, accounting and more for our practitioners. And then, of course, I also run my full-time acupuncture practice there, too, in my spare time.

EXPERIENCE: I had an acupuncture practice for a year and a half before CLINIC fell into my lap. What does this mean? I learned a lot on the job from solo practice; my time with CLINIC has just added new dimensions to that experience. Prior to that, I earned two master’s degrees in philosophy and one in Chinese medicine. I combine my very intellectual background, my entrepreneurial experience and a lifetime of work in the service industry to create a fantastic space at CLINIC.

THE MARKET: CLINIC has a two-part market. First, we work to reach clients who may be in need of one or more of our services. This area is absolutely wonderful in terms of the open-mindedness of its residents and their earnest desire to achieve their best health. On the other hand, what pays the bills for us is the practitioners who run their businesses out of CLINIC. So we need to reach both practitioners and the clients they’d like to attract.

HOW YOU REACH OUT TO IT: Our individual practitioners do outreach, and we often collaborate on advertising, farmers’ markets and events, and so on. One thing that’s been great is that we all really love helping each other with branding and outreach.

WHAT FINANCING HURDLES HAVE YOU FACED AND HOW HAVE YOU HANDLED THEM? I’ve been very, very lucky to have had a lot of support from my family.

KEY TO SUCCESS: I think it’s really important to care about every aspect of the business, and think through every aspect in terms of its impact on your overall perception to the client. Do we need matching tea cups? Can we skimp on candles? Do cloth towels in the bathroom feel unsanitary or homey?

CHALLENGES: The annual cycle of boom and bust in the Valley is very tricky for anyone in a service industry. Summers have been slow for almost all of our practitioners; we’re cooking up some innovative ideas to mitigate that for the CLINIC team. Beyond that, it’s been difficult to find serious, committed practitioners who are not only passionate about their practices but who also want to run a substantial business. We’re still looking to complete our stable.

MISSTEP YOU LEARNED FROM: I’ve realized that I dive in too deep and later need to pull back. I’m trying to set more modest, incremental goals that don’t overwhelm me.

WHAT OTHERS COULD LEARN FROM YOU: I feel that I am a unique resource for wellness practitioners in the Valley. I’ve helped shepherd quite a few alternative medicine practices at this point. I know what works here, and I love talking about it.

WHO HELPED MENTOR YOU PROFESSIONALLY: Thom Herman runs The Center at 35 State St., which was my practice’s first home. He always had lots of hugs and helpful advice for me, starting out. Also, Ruth Anne Lundberg of Mama Nirvana’s reached out to me with some of the most concrete, business-changing suggestions I’ve ever received.

TOP GOALS FOR 2013: To cement our core group of practitioners and amp up all of our client bases.

ADVICE FOR OTHERS SEEKING BUSINESS SUCCESS: Go big. (And then maybe take it down just a smidge.)

The B2B ID is compiled by Janice Beetle of Beetle Press in Easthampton, a PR and communications firm. www.beetlepress.com. To suggest a subject for B2B ID, email Beetle at beetlepress@charter.net.

Crystal healing is an alternative medicine technique that employs crystals and other stones as conduits for natural healing energy. The stones are said to channel positive energy into the body to cure or protect against disease while removing negative energy.

Crystal healing philosophy taps into the traditional Asian concepts of life-energy (chi or qi) and chakras, which are vortices of this life-energy said to connect the physical and supernatural elements of the body. Yet because crystal healing so often is incorporated into the practice of astrology, soothsaying and modern witchcraft, as well as the belief in reincarnation, intelligent extraterrestrial life and the lost city of Atlantis, even ardent proponents of alternative medicine tend to dismiss it as a useless therapy, if not ludicrous.

No studies have ever demonstrated any therapeutic value for crystal healing. At a purely scientific level, there is no evidence that disease is caused by poor cosmic energy flow — positive or negative — or that crystals and gems can be differentiated by chemical composition or color to treat a particular ailment.

Nevertheless, healing crystals remain popular at health spas and at New Age health clinics, often incorporated into related practices of massage and Reiki. Healing crystals may help induce relaxation, although this would have nothing to do with the physical (or spiritual) properties of the stones used but rather the relaxed atmosphere in which a crystal healer works.

Patients should note that crystal healing is tied intrinsically to the occult. That is, the stones used are not said to be beneficial because of the chemicals they contain — phosphate, copper, silicates, etc. — but rather because they are conduits for a supernatural healing force.

Rarely is crystal healing used to treat any serious disease; even so-called certified crystal healers would be barred by law to practice medicine without a license.

How it’s supposed to work

Crystal healing proponents assert that crystals and gemstones — largely by virtue of their color, shape, and texture — have properties that facilitate healing. Often these properties are referred to as spiritual or magical energy. More recently, some crystal healers have used the term vibrational energy, incorporating a concept of quantum mechanics, although incorrectly.

In short, crystals and stones are said to mediate a type of life-energy called qi, which according to some tenets of traditional Eastern philosophy is an unseen healing force that pervades the universe. That said, crystal healing as practiced today is largely a modern Westernalternative medicine practice.

Crystals and stones are assigned various properties, albeit not universally agreed upon by crystal healers. Amethyst is said to be beneficial for the intestines; green aventurine helps the heart; yellow topaz provides mental clarity. Colors red through violet are associated with seven chakra points on the body.

A crystal healer may place various stones or crystals on your body aligned with these chakra points, roughly in the regions above the head, on the forehead, on the throat, on the chest, on the stomach, on the gut, and on the genital area. The stones used and their positioning may be chosen for the symptoms reported by the patient. This is all influenced by the healer’s knowledge of, and belief in, the chakra philosophy of disease and energy imbalances — a concept largely dismissed by practitioners of modern medicine.

Crystal healing also involves the use of amulets, that is, crystals and stones worn on the body or placed under pillows to ward off sickness, to shed negative energy, and to absorb positive energy.

Crystal healers become healers by passing a certification course, often offered over the Internet from unaccredited “natural medicine” universities or clinics. Some accredited health organizations also offer crystal healing certification. Although the doctrines of crystal healing imply the ability to cure life-threatening and chronic diseases, such as cancer, a certified crystal healer in the United States would have no more legal authority to treat medical conditions than, say, a massage therapist.

Rock-solid belief

Crystal healing, more so than most elements of complementary and alternative medicine, is based on a system of beliefs in the supernatural — that is, the mysterious and the unexplainable — and proponents are not easily dissuaded.

Proponents often express disgust or frustration with modern medicine, despite its success in raising the quality of life for billions of people, through the development of vaccines, for example, which save millions of lives per year. Proponents also state that much of what we know of the physical world today would seem magical to humans 200 years ago and that chakras and life-energy fields are merely beyond the limits of our detection.

Crystal healing itself is an unregulated practice, and crystal healers need not demonstrate any knowledge of basic biology to receive certification.

Some medical doctors tolerate crystal healing to a limited degree, seeing it as a therapy that can induce relaxation, which ultimately is therapeutic for stress management. Those seeking a crystal healer, however, should be careful not to forgo legitimate treatment for life-threatening disease.